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Racism – You May Not Like What I Have to Say

And I’m okay that you may not like it. It still needs to be said.

I find it difficult to believe that racism in the United States isn’t a real problem. Given the apparent disparity in the judicial system alone, it is difficult to make the case that the United States doesn’t exist in a racial tension that is real rather than contrived. In a report issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, black men were more than six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated in 2010.

If you are absolutely convinced that racism in the United States is something that is being contrived to promote some left-wing conspiracy agenda to remove power from white men, then read no more. You won’t agree with anything that is said so I don’t want you to waste your time.

On the other hand, if racism in the United States is something you’re not certain about but open to hearing some perspectives on what it looks like and more importantly, why it looks that way then read on and more importantly, listen to this podcast. I know it’s a longish one but the Gungors and Science Mike are really good in general and with guests Propaganda and William Matthews they are wicked good in this particular episode.

From the podcast (as best as I can transcribe): “This attitude of colorblindness is the very attitude that systemic racism can thrive on. And it’s often well intentioned. But it’s self-admittedly blind. And it’s dangerous. It can be hard to hear this as a white person; as a person who has often been picked first without realizing it. Because what I have been learning is just because you have black friends and you don’t use racial slurs or whatever you think makes you enlightened and post-racial, that doesn’t mean you’re not complicit in a system that is destroying people’s lives because of where they’re from or the color of their skin.”

We live in a society that tends toward the short term. We want what we want when we want it. This podcast takes a longer view of how systemic racism got its start and how it continues today. Please take a chance and give it a listen. It is the best explanation for what is too real for too many people of color in the United States.